 ANCHORAGE (July 21, 9:25 a.m. ADT) - A soldier with ties to Anchorage died while serving in the Army in Iraq, according to the Defense Department.
Sgt. Mason Douglas Whetstone, 30, died Thursday in Baghdad as a result of noncombat injuries. 
The incident is under investigation, the Defense Department said, and no further information could be obtained about what happened.
Whetstone graduated from Dimond High School in Anchorage in 1990. He was a member of the school newspaper staff, according to the Dimond yearbook.
Whetstone was assigned to the 3rd Battalion in Hanau, Germany. He was listed as a native of Utah, but his mother lives in Anchorage, according to Chuck Canterbury, spokesman for Fort Richardson.
Fort Richardson officers notified Whetstone's mother of his death, Canterbury said. |
I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
A grateful citizen